Opera Mini 6.5 and Mobile 11.5 embark on data awareness mission, now available for download originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 03 Nov 2011 03:52:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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China isn’t wasting any time getting its space station ducks in a row. After launching the first piece of the Tiangong (Heavenly Palace) in late September, the country has already put its first companion craft, Shenzhou-8, into orbit alongside it. The Shenzhou is another unmanned craft, packed with a collection of 17 biological experiments. The real fun though, will begin on day three of its mission, when it attempts an automated docking with the Tiangong. Being able to send up unmanned supply vehicles has its obvious advantages, but this is only a test run — don’t expect self-piloting craft to start ferrying food and replacement parts to the ISS any time soon. After 12 days of conjoined orbiting, the Shenzhou-8 will disengage from the Tiangong and head back to Earth. Hey, maybe our astronauts can save some cash by hiding in the cargo hold of these Chinese robo-craft.

China launches unmanned, auto-docking spacecraft originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 03 Nov 2011 03:04:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The ideal 3-D TV watching experience should be effortless. Walk into a room with a functioning 3-D TV, and the 3-D content is visible for all to see, no glasses required. Today’s technology isn’t quite there, but a giant glasses-free 3-D display that Japanese researchers have recently developed brings us one step closer.

Japan’s National Institute of Information and Communications (NICT) and JVC Kenwood teamed up to develop a massive, 200-inch glasses-free 3-D display. They’re claiming it’s the largest auto-stereoscopic full HD 3-D display in the world.

The display’s glasses-free 3-D effect is created using an array of 57 projectors, each one specially tuned to display the correct brightness and color levels. A condenser lens focuses the light to create a sharp image, and a diffuser film is used to create a smooth transition as the viewer switches. The setup weighs over 1,100 lbs.

For perspective on the size of this beast, most consumer-designed big-screen HD TVs tend towards the 65- or 55-inch range at the large end. On the complete opposite end of the spectrum, an IMAX screen is traditionally 864 inches (72 feet).

Unlike other types of 3-D displays which tend to have viewing angles around 180 degrees, the viewing angles for the display are a scant 13 degrees. This means that if you look at the image from the right or left edges, you’ll see the on-screen image from different angles. So if you were looking at an image of, say, a box, you’d be able to see the side edges of the box from within that viewing angle.

As far as home theater-friendly 3-D TVs go, many consumers aren’t taking the bait. However, most consumer-focused 3-D TVs still require you to wear a pug fugly pair of 3-D shades. We’re starting to see more glasses-free 3-D options become available — like Toshiba’s recent notebook offering and the Nintendo 3DS — but we haven’t seen the technology take off quite yet.

Though this 200-inch display could fit on a large wall in your home in theory, the team sees the technology being used in digital signage (billboard-like advertisements) and design applications.

The team is currently working on developing 3-D video capture, which should be ready in the near future. They have to film video using cameras placed at 0.78 inch intervals, and since regular HD cameras are so large, that’s not possible (they’d bump into each other at that proximity). CG video, however, is not an issue, as the video below demonstrates.

Future versions of this display will have 200 viewing angles, otherwise known as parallax images, instead of only 57.

Check out the video to see this giant 3-D display in action.

via Slashgear

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One distinguishing feature of Android phones is their exclusive Gmail app. Not anymore. Today, Google began sharing the Gmail love with iPhone and iPad users through its new Gmail iOS app.

The app actually isn’t available at the moment: After the app went live, many users reported a bug (a “no valid ‘aps-environment’ error entitlement” error), and the app has since been removed from the App Store. However, those who have already installed the app have been given the OK by Google to keep using it.

Many may feel they’re better off just sticking with the native Mail app on their iOS device, but for others, the native Gmail app will be a godsend. It brings you all the features you’d expect from a Gmail service with a straightforward interface, but it’s got a few quirks.

To start with, the app looks very similar to the mobile web version of the service, a point that many early downloaders of the app were quick to disparage on Twitter. After signing in, you’re taken to your inbox, a sparse list view of your inbox messages, with Gmail’s signature checkbox on the left of e-mail subjects, and stars on the right. Unread messages are clearly identified with a bold subject line, and the background of read messages are a very light gray.

Personally, the minimalist, straightforward design is fine with me. When it comes to e-mail, I want to be able to efficiently go through my messages and quickly identify new or unread messages.

Some may be irritated that the app defaults at loading up only your 20 most recent messages, with additional ones added with the click of Show more messages at the bottom of the list. For my Gmail account, this isn’t too problematic, but for those who regularly have more than 20 need-to-read messages entering their inbox on a regular basis, having to click Show more constantly could get old quick.

Unlike the web version, which when you click Menu takes you to a separate page, in the app, it seemingly slides your messages over to the right to reveal the Gmail menu hiding underneath. It’s pretty slick, and makes navigations between folders or subfolders quicker and more streamlined. The menu lists things like your inbox, starred items, sent mail, folders you’ve created — whatever you’ve got listed in the traditional web or mobile version of Gmail. You can also open or close the side menu with a sideways swipe, but this navigation method was buggy, working pretty well to hide the menu, but only properly opening the menu (without repeat tries or stuttering) about half the time.

Interestingly, the iOS Gmail app experience is completely different from the Android experience, namely due to this slide-out menu that’s used instead of clicking a button to access the menu.

Since this is a third-party app and isn’t baked into the iOS experience like the native Mail app, if you want to e-mail a photo to someone, you need to tap the paperclip attachment icon at the top of the screen when you’re composing a message. If you’re not ready to send a message, or you decide to abandon a message, Save and Trash icons are also located at the top of the screen, along with Send and Back buttons. The interface used when composing an app is very familiar, almost the same as that of the Mail app. On the iPhone, it’s a tight fit, but that’s just what you get on a 3.5-inch display.

Because of iOS’ Mail app integration, Mail is the more logical e-mail choice for sending messages that contain photos, links or information from other apps. But if you need to search your Gmail specifically, or want to dig through one of your Gmail folders, you’re much better served by Google’s Gmail app.

Overall, the Gmail app is good, but not great. If Gmail is your e-mail of choice, you should definitely download it. But if you’ve got e-mail from multiple services feeding into your Mail app, you may be better off just sticking with that.

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A London bus. The last thing you’ll see if you cross the street distracted by free Wi-Fi. Photo Charlie Sorrel

If you live in London, and own a portable device with Wi-Fi, then today is your lucky day. Nokia has just launched a trial service offering free Wi-Fi in Central London. Better yet — if it works, then the Finnish company will turn it into a full (and still free) service.

The trial will be concentrated around Oxford Street in the West End, but also has hotspots in Victoria, Marylebone and Westminster. Users won’t need to sign up or sign in. It’ll be just like joining the Wi-Fi network that your neighbor foolishly left open.

The 20 Megabit pipes will be limited to 1Mbit per user, to stop the tubes from getting clogged, and if the trial is successful, Nokia plans to add 1,000 hotspots around London.

Of course, the awesomeness of this scheme is offset somewhat by the fact that you have to get near Oxford Circus to use it. Then again, it’s most likely to be useful to tourists who want to avoid expensive roaming charges. In this case, the situation could be ideal.

Free wi-fi in central London promotion launched [BBC via The Verge]

See Also:

• AT&T Tests Free Wi-Fi in Times Square
• McDonald's: Would You Like Free Wi-Fi for Your Zune?
• Open Source Wi-Fi Service Claims Ten Million Hotspots In Network …

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Be prepared to lose a day to Anthony Voz’s scans of a 1985 consumer goods catalog. Photos Anthony Voz ‘ Flickr

How did the world look back in 1985? While Marty McFly was trying to get Back to the Future, I was probably longing after the kinds of gadgets found in the Argos catalog, a UK store which sells pretty much everything — including gadgets.

And now you, too, can take a look at the state of the consumer tech art from 26 years ago, thanks to an epic project by Anthony Voz. Voz took the 1985 edition of the Argos catalog, scanned every page and posted the results to Flickr. In amongst the lawn chairs and leather goods are the gizmos of yesteryear.

Argos — still going today — is a weird kind of store. The small showroom uses paper catalogs. You browse, write down the number of the item you like and hand the slip to a cashier. You pay, and they give you a number. Then, somewhere in the bowels of the building, somebody grabs your item and sends it up to the showroom, whereupon it is delivered to you at an in-store counter.

The magic of this setup is that a small, city-center store can carry a huge range of goods. And back in 1985, these goods were Commodore 64s, electric typewriters and cheap-o Sony Walkman knock-offs.

If you were a kid during the 80s, you’re going to waste an afternoon looking at the nostalgia-fest. And if you’re younger, take a look at what we used to spend out money on before iPods and cellphones. Amazing.

Vintage British Argos 1985 Catalogue [Anthony Voz / Flickr via Retro Thing]

See Also:

• Wooden Dock Turns iPhone into Retro-Tastic Alarm Clock
• Retro
• Beautiful Retro Airia Desk Is Totally Modern

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Be prepared to lose a day to Anthony Voz’s scans of a 1985 consumer goods catalog. Photos Anthony Voz ‘ Flickr

How did the world look back in 1985? While Marty McFly was trying to get Back to the Future, I was probably longing after the kinds of gadgets found in the Argos catalog, a UK store which sells pretty much everything — including gadgets.

And now you, too, can take a look at the state of the consumer tech art from 26 years ago, thanks to an epic project by Anthony Voz. Voz took the 1985 edition of the Argos catalog, scanned every page and posted the results to Flickr. In amongst the lawn chairs and leather goods are the gizmos of yesteryear.

Argos — still going today — is a weird kind of store. The small showroom uses paper catalogs. You browse, write down the number of the item you like and hand the slip to a cashier. You pay, and they give you a number. Then, somewhere in the bowels of the building, somebody grabs your item and sends it up to the showroom, whereupon it is delivered to you at an in-store counter.

The magic of this setup is that a small, city-center store can carry a huge range of goods. And back in 1985, these goods were Commodore 64s, electric typewriters and cheap-o Sony Walkman knock-offs.

If you were a kid during the 80s, you’re going to waste an afternoon looking at the nostalgia-fest. And if you’re younger, take a look at what we used to spend out money on before iPods and cellphones. Amazing.

Vintage British Argos 1985 Catalogue [Anthony Voz / Flickr via Retro Thing]

See Also:

• Wooden Dock Turns iPhone into Retro-Tastic Alarm Clock
• Retro
• Beautiful Retro Airia Desk Is Totally Modern

Read More

Congratulations Bright House Networks customers, your off-brand Time Warner Cable experience now includes live TV streaming on your iPad. The Bright House TV tablet app has hit iTunes and is, unsurprisingly, a direct clone of the TWCable TV app, although it’s not the latest version as it doesn’t have parental controls yet. Otherwise it’s basically the same experience, complete with the restriction to using it at home on your own WiFi network and its initial unfriendliness towards jailbroken iPads. there’s no word on which channels are available, but we wouldn’t be surprised if they also mirror the Time Warner list. If you’re jailbroken, check the MacRumors link below for a workaround, otherwise you can just head to iTunes and download the app directly.

[Thanks, EvilSpock]

Bright House TV app brings rebranded Time Warner Cable TV to the iPad originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 30 Oct 2011 09:23:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Flexible displays? Samsung’s got ‘em, too. A few days after Nokia showed off its Kinetic Device prototype under the blue lights of Nokia World, Samsung made mention of its own plans to unleash some bendy mobile devices on the world. A spokesperson for the company was scarce on details, but noted that the flexible displays are targeted for 2012. The technology, which was showcased at this year’s CES, will initially be incorporated into handsets, with tablets following down the road.

Continue reading Samsung to offer flexible displays in 2012, challenges Nokia to a twist contest

Samsung to offer flexible displays in 2012, challenges Nokia to a twist contest originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 30 Oct 2011 07:15:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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This week on the Gadget Lab Podcast: The gang talks about Nokia’s latest troop deployments in the smartphone battlefield, the Steve Jobs biography, the success of iOS 5’s Newsstand app, and a big new update to Google TV set top boxes.

Staff writers Mike Isaac and Christina Bonnington open the show discussing Nokia’s just-announced Lumia series, which runs the new Mango version of Windows Phone, and comes in two flavors: the 710 and the 800 (the latter is a ringer for the Nokia N9 that we saw last week). In the past, Nokia has mostly stuck with the “dumb phone” market, so this is the company’s big foray into the smartphone field.

Next, Mike and Christina talk about Steve Jobs’ biography, the heavily leaked tome that debuted on Monday. The duo then chat about a new feature in iOS 5 called Newsstand, which is proving  to be a huge success for digital publishers — this despite flak from some iOS aficionados.

We finish off the show this week with Mike and Gadget Lab editor Jon Phillips talking about Google’s big update to Google TV. The “next version” of software for the set-top box brings some much-needed improvements to the system, including a revamped UI, the availability of Android apps, a redesigned YouTube experience and more. The Google TV update will roll out to Sony devices first, starting next week, followed by Logitech hardware.

Like the show? You can also get the Gadget Lab video podcast via iTunes, or if you don’t want to be distracted by our unholy on-camera talent, check out the Gadget Lab audio podcast. Prefer RSS? You can subscribe to the Gadget Lab video or audio podcast feeds.

Or listen to the audio below:

Gadget Lab audio podcast #130

http://downloads.wired.com/podcasts/assets/gadgetlabaudio/GadgetLabAudio0130.mp3

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